Mr. C. C. Babington on the British Uubi. 175 



Obs. 1 . I am now quite convinced that the common English 

 plant is not R. affinis (W. and N.), and also that it is the R. co- 

 rylifolius (Sm.), and have therefore removed the former name 

 from our list and employed Smithes nomenclature. The R. affinis 

 (W. and N.) appears to have its basal leaflets very decidedly 

 stalked, the prickles of its barren shoot much stronger than in 

 R. corylifolius and deflexed, and that shoot much more angular. 

 In R. corylifolius the shoots might often be called round, never 

 truly angular. 



Obs. 2. Dr. Bell Salter noticed a plant at Selborne (Phyt. ii. 

 100) which he considers the typical plant of the R. affinis of the 

 'Rub. Germ.^; of this I possess only an imperfect specimen 

 which does not seem to differ from the common form of this 

 species, and certainly is not the R. affinis (W. and N.). 



Obs. 3. Plants are occasionally found resembling, and pro- 

 bably referable to, R. corylifolius, which differ by having more 

 angular stems and much stronger and deflexed prickles. I was 

 once disposed to consider these as R. affinis (W. and N.), but 

 their close similarity to R. corylifolius and the decidedly stalked 

 basal leaflets of the plant figured in the ' Rub. Germ.^ have caused 

 a change in my views. It should however be observed that a 

 specimen from Dr. Weihe himself (Reich. Fl. Germ, exsic. 781) 

 has the lower pair of leaflets sessile, and that in some of our 

 plants these leaflets are very manifestly stalked. In other cases 

 the prickles on the rather angular stems are not deflexed but 

 declining. 



Obs. 4. The panicles of plants referable to this species often 

 differ very remarkably, not in their real structure but in appear- 

 ance. In some they are narrow, short and close ; in other cases 

 the lower branches are very much elongated and spreading ; but 

 all the intermediate forms may be found. The colour of the 

 barren stem is usually purplish-green, but sometimes it is of a 

 rather dark purple tint. 



Obs. 5. Smith, in his first description of R. corylifolius (Fl. 

 Br. ii. 542), says that the calyx is inflexed, and Woodward (With. 

 Bot. Arr. ed. 3. ii. 470) says, "bent inwards and clasping the 

 fruit.^^ In his later works (Eng. Bot. 827 ; Eng. Fl. ii. 408) 

 Smith corrects this, stating that it is reflexed. This will proba- 

 bly explain the difficulty which foreign botanists have found in 

 determining Smithes plant; and the 'Fl. Brit.' being the work 

 most frequently in their hands will account for their so generally 

 referring R. corylifolius (Sm.) to R. nemorosus (Hayne), R. du- 

 metorum (Weihe). 



[To be continued.] 



